Day 1

All I can say about day 1 as a LinkedIn intern is WOW. I knew going in that they had an open culture; I knew going in that they had lots of perks; I knew going in that they were on a mission to change the world. Yet I was still blown away. Wow.

My day started at 7:00. I got ready and ate breakfast at the hotel. I met Ryan Daly, another hr intern, who is from Wharton. We drove over around 8:30 for orientation. 

Orientation lasted from 9:00-3:00. This year there are 176 interns at LinkedIn - the largest class they've ever had. Most of them are coders. We had an icebreaker activity (my group played "I want it that way" with kazoos), got our laptops and some info from IT, then went to lunch. Lime chicken, steak, veggies, pasta, and red velvet cupcakes definitely hit the spot (and I didn't even try the Indian or vegetarian lines). I ate lunch with a couple of people I'll be working with over the summer, and got introduced to many others. 

One thing that showed me how LinkedIn is different is that I met the SVP of ops and the VP of HR before I was done with lunch. I knew I'd get to meet high level executives, but they were so open it caught me off guard. Most companies have days planned where the interns get to meet with certain executives, but here I was meeting them and having them say they were looking forward to working with me (as opposed to "have a great time here, but there are 4 levels between the guy you're working for and me, so maybe I'll see you in the hall sometime") - guys who report to the CEO. Awesome to feel the benefits of a smaller company. 

After lunch we heard from a number of departments - operations, product development, hr, benefits, health and wellness, security. The operations guy (David Henke) had such great stuff that I started taking notes (left them at the office, so I'll post tomorrow).

After orientation, I got situated at my desk, set up my computer settings how I like them (most everything was already set up when I got there - laptop, extra monitor at my desk with a dock already hooked up ... sad, but I've never come into a job that was close to that prepared for me), and found out about one project I'll start working on.

The thing that blew me away most wasn't the food (basically free food everywhere you look, all day everyday ... drinks, snacks, fruit, yogurt, candy ...), but the tone of the company. One of the executives said that their goal wasn't just to connect people - their goal was to increase the GDP of nations by bringing economic opportunity to professionals. They have such a clear view of the impact their work does and the importance of helping everyone at the company enjoy working towards that impact ... it was amazing.

Day 1 = Mind Blown. Awesome perks, interesting work, and people around me who actually like their jobs. I have a feeling I'm going to love this summer.